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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Decking the Halls--The Final Chapter

Well, I meant to post this yesterday, but I got too busy doin' around...aka making candy (I'll show ya'll tomorrow), wrapping gifts, cleaning, and being the stealth finisher of projects for the girls. So here's the last of my little things we put together to make the house festive and Christmas-y on a shoestring budget. Seriously. This first picture is my "tablescape" using decorations I already had. We actually eat at this table every night, so no pretty chargers and cloth napkins here! There are some vintage glass Christmas balls I aquired last year from my dad. I'm pretty sure they are from the 60's and I really like them. After shining them up (teehee--shining my balls), I placed them in a pretty glass canister I found at Marshall's for $6 that I'll be able to reuse for other doo-das later on and then put it on top of a mirror I had found at Goodwill for $5 quite some time ago.

We usually concentrate all our decorating in the living room. However, my neighbor had given me two perfectly good 8 or 9 foot plain green garlands that she didn't want anymore a few weeks ago that I couldn't resist. After pondering what to do with them, I decided to spread the love and help out our dining room space. We found these white letters at Hobby Lobby for about $2 each. I let the girls paint the front of them with Mod Podge and cover them(selves) with Martha Stewart Smokey Quartz glitter. We just stapled some red ribbon onto the back and hung them from the garland. They loved making them.

I'm seriously addicted to do-it-yourself home decor blogs, but I don't know anything about home decor or what looks good. That's why my walls have remained bare for so long and why this wallpaper from the 80's is still in my dining room and kitchen. Can someone please sign me up for Extreme Home Makeover? PLEASE! So since I had already started in the dining room, I had to do something to these gross walls, too. I had bought these 4 little black frames at Dollar Tree for a Halloween project. I simply took out the scary pictures I had in them and replaced them with some sparkly plastic snowflake ornaments I didn't use for our Christmas tree, backed them with red and green cardstock, and hung them on the bare wall. I love it and they too, can be reused after Christmas.

Next is a fun project that I lifted the idea from another blog, Hi Sugarplum!. It's a magnolia leaf wreath. We have a magnolia tree in our front yard (poor thing, whoever planted it put it in the WORST spot, so it is really getting choked out). The girls and I went and plucked off some of the prettier leaves in different sizes (telling her how pretty she was going to make our house look), washed and dried them and then I simply hot glued them onto a ring that I cut from foamboard. It was a little plain, so I added just a few gold balls to spruce it up and hung it from another piece of red ribbon stapled to the back. Yes, so basically it was a free wreath. (And it gets prettier by the day, as the leaves start to curl!) Oh and see the little snowflake bowl? There's a smaller one on my table with little toys in it--another awesome Goodwill find. They are from Crate and Barrel and I spent all of $2 for the both of them!

Oh and here's Sage. She's getting into the holiday spirit, too, wondering why we are bringing nature indoors (she doesn't realize it's a fake tree) and decorating it with all those things she wants to smell...her nickname is Sniffy Snifferton. (That's the beagle part of the Puggle.) Don't worry Sage, Santa is coming to see you too, I'm sure.

I'll be back tomorrow with a few little things I've made for some last minute gifts and Christmas party favors!

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It's Me Susan...

My name is Susan and I am a SAHM of 3 girls. I am married to the best guy ever and we have been together for 15 years. yay!! I love any kind of papercrafts--stamping, scrapbooking, making cards--all of it as long as I'm having fun doing it (which is most of the time)!! I'd love to hear from you! Email me at susanliles@sbcglobal.net